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mnedae d X I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN T. RICHARDSON, OF HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TOPENNSYLVANIA STEEL COMPANY.

RAILROAD-SWITCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 229,754, dated July 6,1880.'

Application filedMay 21, 1880. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN P. RICHARDSON, a citizen of the United States,residing at H arrisburg, in the county of Dauphin and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inRailroadand I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description-of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, referencebeing had to the accompanyin g drawings,.and to letters or figures ofreference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

Figure l is a plan view of my improved railroad-switch. Fig. 2 is atransverse section taken in the plane a; x of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is aview of a central brace and connecting-bars detached from thepoint-rails.

Like letters in all the figures of the drawin gs indicate like parts.

This invention has reference to the jointed connections for securing themovable pointrails of a railroad-switch; andit consists of a centraltransverse brace formed with slots extendingout each. way from the solidmiddle portion thereof, With" connecting-bars rigidly attached at oneend to the point-rails and extending into the said slots and pivoted tothe ends of the said brace, so as to form a stiffjointed connectionvertically between thepointrails, and thus cause them to maintain anupright position, andat the same time allow the connecting-bars a freeplay in the slots of the brace during the movement of the point-rails,as will be hereinafter more particularly explained.

A A are central parallel braces, consisting each of two plates rivetedto alcenter piece or block, a, to 'form the slots b b on each side ofthe piece. (See Fig. 3.) r V B B are the connectingbars, which arerigidly attached, by means of T-shaped ends far as the center pieces, a,

Switches;

and rivets, to the webs of the point-rails, and made to extend into theslots of the braces as and secured by pivots to the ends of the braces,which, in connection with the bars, form stiff jointed connectionsvertically between the point-rails, thus preventing any lateral yieldingor turning over of the point-rails, and causing them to maintain asteady upright position during their movement or otherwise, and at thesame time allowing the bars a free horizontal movement in the slots ofthe braces, according to the movement of the point-rails.

O is the usual operating switch rod, connected with a lever, 0, havingits fulcrum at d.

D is a spring-holder attached to the lower edge of a brace, and providedwith sleeves e 6, through which and a spiral spring, D, the rod passes,screw-nuts being placed on the rods to regulate the tension of thespring.

Having thus fully described my what I claim therein as new, cure byLetters Patent, is-

1. A railroad-switch having a central transverse brace formed with slotsextending each Way from the solid middle portion, with connecting-barsrigidly attached at one end to the point-rails and extending into thesaid slots and pivoted to the ends of the brace, substantially as andfor the purposes set forth.

2. The parallel braces A A, consisting each of two plates riveted to acenter piece, a, to form the slots 1) b, in combination with theconnecting-bars B B, attached at one end to the point-rails and pivotedto the ends of the braces, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN T. RICHARDSON.

invention, and desire to se- Witnesses GEO. W. PARSONS, M. L.HARRINGTON.

